Gateway elections lawsuit will continue into September, judge decides

Tuesday

A federal judge refused Tuesday to issue an emergency order blocking Duval County Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland from moving an elections center out of Gateway Shopping Center.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan doesn't end a lawsuit by Gateway's landlord. Instead it leaves the fight about a new lease for the elections center up in the air at least until Sept. 23, the date of the next hearing on the lawsuit.

Gateway Retail Center LLC had sought an injunction blocking a 10-year lease by the elections center at One Imeson, a former Sears catalog center on Imeson Park Boulevard, by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

"I just don't see the 5:00 as anything magical," U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan said.

In a lawsuit filed Monday, Gateway had described the time as the point the new lease would take effect unless Mayor Alvin Brown vetoed legislation the City Council passed Aug. 13 approving the Imeson deal.

Brown, who had not supported the move to Imeson, told the council Tuesday afternoon he would neither sign the bill nor veto it, letting it become law without his signature.

"Now that the City Council has clearly expressed its view, we should move forward," Brown said in a letter to the council. He said the savings the lease would produce - maybe more than $3 million over a decade - was "an important consideration in these challenging financial times."

Holland has been paying $51,000 a month on a month-by-month deal at Gateway, though both landlords offered deep discounts once they began to compete.

Gateway argued its best offer, totaling $2.8 million over 10 years, was $83,000 cheaper than Imeson, and noted the city Public Works Department endorsed that as the best choice. Holland told the council before it voted that the dollars were nearly identical, but that the Imeson site was better suited for warehousing elections equipment, the main function of the elections center.

Having the lawsuit unsettled may change Holland's timetable for leaving Gateway.

He said after the council vote that he expected to leave Gateway in September, store elections equipment rent-free in Imeson and move a few employees there in February, when build-out was finished on new offices.

He said after the hearing Tuesday he needs to be sure whether Imeson will start build-out while the suit is pending. If there is doubt, he said, his office could delay leaving Gateway while work on Imeson continues.

steve.patterson@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4263

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